Innovation as a “transitional iteration”

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In the current issue of New York Magazine, Kurt Andersen describes the changing dynamics of the media business, with a focus on how established media outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post are dealing with the explosion in popularity of online video. Should these mainstream media giants attempt to out-maneuver the likes of YouTube — or should they just see where the process of Endless Innovation takes them?

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“We think we know that the professional news media, especiallynnewspapers, are obsolete, that the future is all about (excuse thenexpression) you—media created by amateurs. But such PowerPointndistillation tends to overlook the fact that mainstream media are notnall simply shriveling and dying but in some instances actuallynevolving. And in evolution, there are always fascinating transitionalniterations along the way. Such as newspapers’ suddenly proliferatingnforays into online video.”

The imagery is fantastic – in a single phrase, Kurt coveys that evolution is a dynamic, recursive process that produces all kinds of interesting mutations along the way. These “transitional iterations” are tiny little incremental steps that are part of a much larger evolutionary picture.

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[image: Evolution from ape to PC man]

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